UP bypolls: Dalit votes may become a gamechanger in Milkipur

Lucknow: With firebrand Dalit leader and Bheem Army founder Chandrashekhar’s Azad Samaj Party (ASP) jumping into the contest, the upcoming bypoll in Milkipur Assembly constituency — part of the Faizabad (Ayodhya) Lok Sabha seat, which has become a prestige battle for the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP — is likely to witness a triangular fight.

The ASP has fielded SP rebel Suraj Choudhary from the seat, while the SP has fielded Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad’s son Ajeet Prasad and the BJP has nominated Chandrabhan Paswan: All three hailed from the “Pasi” (Dalit) community.

Deciding factor

Dalit voters, who make up around 50% of the seat’s total electorate, have been a deciding factor. While the Congress has extended support to the SP, the BSP has decided to stay away from the contest.

ASP state president Sunil Chittor said the Dalit voters were “solidly” behind his party.

“Both the SP and the BJP are anti-Dalit... They have done nothing for the community... Dalits are looking for an alternative,” he claimed.

The bypoll was necessitated after the SP’s senior Dalit leader Awadhesh Prasad resigned from the Milkipur Assembly seat after being elected to the Lok Sabha.

The BJP and the SP have made the contest a prestige fight. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Ayodhya over a dozen times in the past few months and deployed senior ministers to camp, underscoring the significance he attaches to the Milkipur seat.

“A win in Milkipur will send a positive message in the country... It will, to some extent, compensate for the defeat in Faizabad,” a senior BJP leader told DH here.

Buoyed after its resounding victory in the recently-held bypolls to nine Assembly seats in UP, of which it won seven, the BJP appears confident of a win in Milkipur as well.

Awadhesh Prasad, however, has said the SP would retain the seat and the BJP would once again taste defeat there.

“The chief minister may visit Milkipur hundreds of times, but the people will not support his party,” he said.